TrevorR

Funny, I never heard hair metal called glam rock until much later than its heyday (and only from US sources). I guess because, for us, glam was still exclusively a term for 70s bands like The Sweet, The Glitter Band and T-Rex.

Paddle boat rock…? Isn’t that CCR? Rollin’ , rollin’, rollin’ down the river…

Rick must have got a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking this year as he’s definitely in Grumpy Scrooge mode here. He seemingly takes huge offence at the term “Yacht Rock” as being denigrating to the music and musicians who made it. Bah humbug! Let’s face it, pretty much all genre tags are a bit crap and there are outliers in all of them. None of them works properly. Won’t stop me using a term that everyone now knows and understands or make me like the music lumped in there any less. Maybe Rick needs to have a nice lie down and listen to some Steely Dan tunes…

Love PMJ! Have you heard their take on “The Final Countdown” by Europe? Brilliant and laugh out loud funny at the same time! And their “Mr Blue Sky” is just sublime.

So Joan Armatrading then? 😉🤣

Influenced how I play: Herbie Flowers (esp War of the Worlds) Kelly Groucutt (ELO) Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) John Whetton (but ASIA-era not any of his other bands) Neil Murray (Whitesnake) Tiran Porter (The Doobie Brothers) Alan Gorrie (AWB) Roger Glover (Deep Purple) Randy Hope Taylor (Incognito: much later - late 90s - when started getting into acid jazz and similar) Inspired but not in a way that changes my playing: Chris Squire Geddy Lee Abraham Laboriel John G Perry

It is that time of year when you look a back of the last 12 months. So here are the last of my personal musical highlights by theme. Albums : The Last Flight - Public Service Broadcasting: a wonderful album charting the last flight of Amelia Earhart. A perfect synthesis on music and narrative but a truly innovative yet accessible band. From the Beginning - Big Horizon: a bunch of top UK session players having fun on their days off and producing an uplifting set of ‘70s West Coast/Yacht Rock influenced pop songs. Fires reissue box set - Nerina Pallot: this album has a big place in my heart so getting to delve into it in a luxuriant box set format was wonderful. So many great songs on this lesser known gem. Gigs: Public Service Broadcasting - Pryzm, Kingston: effectively an album launch gig but in a more intimate venue than their usual. They translate their audio-visual music so brilliantly on to stage. Adrian Snell’s The Passion - All Souls Langham Place: a prog rock opera about the Easter story that I’ve loved for over 40 years. Amazing to see it performed with a full orchestra. Big Horizon - Pizza Express Live, Holborn: their debut gig in their own right (ignoring the fact they’d been playing Madison Square Gardens a few weeks before as Jeff Lynne’s ELO backing band). Such a fun night out and lovely so see a couple of old chums there too! Pete Roth Trio - The Old Court, Windsor: a jazz trio led by the excellent Pete Roth and featuring drum legend Bill Bruford’s return to live. Amazing to see these musical maestros in action in such an intimate setting. Not a bad set of musical high spots for a 12 month period. What about yours?

I’m a rank amateur… I’ve only ever bought 7 basses. I still have 6 of them. The other was a late 80s Squier Jazz I put EMGs in, later de-fretted and sold on to my former bass teacher. And the remaining six are…

Fabulous retrospective and tribute. What a legend, and what a lovely man. Was fortunate enough to see him live a few times and to meet him on a few occasions. He was fabulous and hilarious when he came to our SE Bass Bash a few years ago. There’ll never be another Herbie!

Have to agree. One of my top 3 albums of the year and top 3 gigs!

I think Lozz was talking as much about his playing style as much as anything. Not strictly the tone of a P vs J vs Thunderbird in blind test conditions like we had ( @cetera did a brilliant job behind the curtain but by the end I never wanted to hear that Kansas diff ever again!). @Lozz196 was at that Bash IIRC and will have scored as badly as the rest of us - coz we ALL did miserably.

Hell, I couldn’t even pick out my own basses in the blind test!!!

Had to walk by Wunjos today so popped in for a look around. They had a PM configuration California hanging on the wall, so of course I had to try it. That hasn’t helped the situation one little bit! 🙄❤️😍🤘

I would love a Sandberg California VM… but it’s not going to happen unless I do something like sell one of my Wals. And THAT’S ABSOLUTELY NOT going to happen. The Sandberg, if it ever does materialise might look suspiciously like this!

Mine would be made by Sandberg and look a lot like this… not that I’ve ever played a bass like this or have any excuse to buy one, but IF I WAS… might go for a trans raspberry red though, but I do like this blue burst! I would be going this way because even after 20 to 30 years of play (40 in the case of my Aria!), none of my basses are particularly beaten up or with visible wear in need of relic-ing in a copy. Aside from the odd little ding here or there … but no “wear marks”. They’re all in good condition. So for a signature bass I’m doing the wish list thing…

Pete Roth Trio in Windsor tonight… with Bill Bruford on drums! Jazz man!! Niiice!

It was fantastic. Very 70s West Coast pop, Yacht Rock vibe to it and they were clearly enjoying - as was I! Nice intimate venue and great sound. Iain Hornal has a great voice and Lee Pomeroy’s playing as ever a delight… even if watching his lefty, upside down strung bass mangles my brain.

Yeah, can’t believe my Wal Pro 2E is only 5 years off that score!

Cool bass but very confused by the E and A strings!

A Costa Coffee card or similar works great for this. Usually it’s not an electronic sensor, just a physical switch/relay activated by the physical presence of the card.

Very Special… 😉

It was a fabulous gig and great music. Had such a great time!!! Nice to catch up with Jo Webb - their guitarist and co-producer - who I’ve not seen in yonks.

In the Beginning - the debut album from Big Horizon (basically the guys from Jeff Lynne’s ELO and Take That’s backing band). Picked it up at their debut gig on Friday. Damn, it’s good. Yacht Rock/Steely Dan/Hall & Oats/Andrew Gold vibe.

Interesting… Eventbrite is also advertising tickets for “Bass Guitar Live 2025” the previous day but no website or details on that one either. Beyond this blurb… Bass Guitar Live Get ready to rock out at Bass Guitar Live! Join us in London for an epic event showcasing the best bass brands and bass guitar talents around. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this event is perfect for all bass enthusiasts. See Gear up close and Watch jaw-dropping performances, pick up some new techniques, and connect with fellow bass players. Don't miss out on this unforgettable experience - mark your calendars for Bass Guitar Live! Clashing/competing events? One event building/cashing in on the other? One event with two halves? Doubt anyone’s going to spend 2x£20 on very similar looking events a day apart… even if they’ve travelled down to London for one of them. They’ve got to dilute each other’s ticket sales. All very curious but both their PR/web/socials teams need taking outside and given a good talking to.

I’m not a big bass spender so my two best would be another TC Electronics UniTune Clip headstock tuner (can’t have enough of those scattered about), and this humbucking pickup that I got from Catswhisker Pickups earlier in the year to add to my Frankenjazz. It replaced one of a set of their side by side Jazz humbuckers which I had installed on it a few years ago. Nothing wrong with that neck pickup but a project bass is a project bass… what can you do? Sounds so great for half the cost of a Bart or an SD… and Allan’s great to work with as a customer. Thinking about it… I’d have to add the new scratch plate I got from Tiny Tone to go with it. Absolutely no worst buys, which is great!